Brookfield Business Partners L.P. (NYSE:BBU) Receives Consensus Recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from Analysts

Key Points

• Moderate Buy consensus from eight analysts (six buys, two sells) with an average 1‑year price target of $43 and several brokers recently raising targets to about $44.
• The company posted a large EPS miss (‑$0.48 vs. $1.38 expected) despite reporting $7.0B in revenue, and carries high leverage (debt/equity 2.84) with a negative P/E of ‑121.
• 85.04% of shares are held by institutional investors, several funds recently increased stakes (notably JPMorgan), and the firm pays a quarterly dividend of $0.0625 (≈0.8% yield).

Shares of Brookfield Business Partners L.P. (NYSE:BBU - Get Free Report) have earned a consensus recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the eight ratings firms that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $43.00.

A number of research firms recently commented on BBU. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce initiated coverage on Brookfield Business Partners in a research report on Friday, February 27th. They set a "sector outperform" rating and a $44.00 price objective for the company. Scotiabank reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of Brookfield Business Partners in a research note on Monday, February 2nd. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price target on shares of Brookfield Business Partners from $43.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday, February 2nd. Zacks Research lowered shares of Brookfield Business Partners from a "hold" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 3rd. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a "sell (d+)" rating on shares of Brookfield Business Partners in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Brookfield Business Partners

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in BBU. PCJ Investment Counsel Ltd. increased its stake in Brookfield Business Partners by 5.3% in the third quarter. PCJ Investment Counsel Ltd. now owns 1,338,079 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $43,786,000 after purchasing an additional 67,295 shares during the last quarter. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. boosted its stake in Brookfield Business Partners by 1.6% in the 3rd quarter. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. now owns 1,119,781 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $35,513,000 after buying an additional 17,508 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in Brookfield Business Partners by 214.0% in the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,013,814 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $35,483,000 after buying an additional 690,915 shares during the last quarter. Picton Mahoney Asset Management grew its holdings in Brookfield Business Partners by 74.4% in the 3rd quarter. Picton Mahoney Asset Management now owns 696,679 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $22,849,000 after buying an additional 297,180 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of Montreal Can increased its stake in shares of Brookfield Business Partners by 16.4% during the 4th quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 643,920 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $22,787,000 after acquiring an additional 90,772 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.04% of the company's stock.

Brookfield Business Partners Price Performance

BBU stock opened at $31.46 on Thursday. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $33.73 and its 200 day moving average price is $33.82. The firm has a market cap of $2.76 billion, a P/E ratio of -121.00 and a beta of 1.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.84, a quick ratio of 0.19 and a current ratio of 0.27. Brookfield Business Partners has a 1 year low of $18.63 and a 1 year high of $37.75.

Brookfield Business Partners (NYSE:BBU - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 30th. The business services provider reported ($0.48) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.38 by ($1.86). Brookfield Business Partners had a return on equity of 2.67% and a net margin of 1.41%.The company had revenue of $7 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.46 billion. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Brookfield Business Partners will post 5.25 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Brookfield Business Partners Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 23rd were issued a $0.0625 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 23rd. This represents a $0.25 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.8%. Brookfield Business Partners's payout ratio is -96.15%.

Brookfield Business Partners Company Profile

Brookfield Business Partners L.P. NYSE: BBU is a publicly traded partnership sponsored by Brookfield Asset Management. The company focuses on acquiring and operating high-quality businesses across a range of industrial and service-oriented sectors. Through a partnership structure, Brookfield Business Partners seeks to provide investors with returns generated from stable, cash-flowing enterprises that benefit from Brookfield Asset Management's global scale and operational expertise.

The company's investment strategy centers on businesses within the industrial services, manufacturing, transportation, and business services segments.

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